Economic impact of cross compliance in the field of animal welfare (Acts C18 and C16)

The paper reports the results of assessment of animal welfare at farm level on two dairy cattle farms, identification of structural and management actions to improve the animal welfare and estimate of the costs of such actions; furthermore the economic impact of the potential support under measure 215 of the Rural Development Plan was also simulated. At the time of assessment, no severe break of compliance was detected at the two farms; however some weaknesses were identified and improvement were proposed in order to maintain the current animal welfare status and avoid future failures. The two use cases showed that investments to improve animal welfare were partly self funded in the mid and long term due to the higher milk yield and the better animal health that were expected as consequence; however, in the short term, a large part of expenses was fully borne by farmers if not supported by a public grant or higher market prices. The support provided by the measure 215 is effective in rewarding farmers who undertake to adopt standards of animal husbandry which go beyond the relevant mandatory standards

Restlessness of dairy cows before calving

Careful monitoring of cows helps to minimize pain and distress during calving, and knowledge of the time of birth is important to ensure timely and adequate uptake of colostrum.. However, direct visual observation is time consuming and continuous presence of an observer during stage two of calving can disturb cows; therefore, to predict precisely the calving time, various methods have been proposed to automatically and remotely measure physiological (body temperature; blood level of oestrone- sulphate, 17 beta oestradiol and progesterone; electrolytes in mammary secretion), physical (relaxion of pelvic ligaments; physical separation of the vulva lips) and behavioural indicators. Restlessness is one key behavioural change occurring when calving is approaching. Video cameras or accelerometers recording behaviour of cows can be integrated in systems using image analysis or locomotive activity to alert the farmer when calving is approaching; however, alerting systems require input of benchmark information about behaviours and changes in behaviours which can be predictive of the time of calving. Eight cows in a calving barn were continuously video-monitored. The recordings of the 24 h before calving were analysed to identify the routine behaviours associated with an imminent birth. In our conditions, the only behaviour that was significantly influenced by the distance from calving was frequency of lying bouts; the average number of lying bouts started to increase (P<0.0001) at 3 h before calving reaching the greatest (P<0.0001) value during the last two hours before calving. Increase in the frequency of lying bouts may be an indicator of restlessness useful to predict approaching calving, but further studies are needed to input benchmark values in automated alerting systems

Increasing of Posture Changes as Indicator of Imminent Calving in Dairy Cows

The careful monitoring of cows helps minimise pain and distress during calving; moreover, knowing the exact time of birth is important to ensure timely assistance and the adequate ingestion of colostrum by the calf. However, direct visual observation is time-consuming, and the continuous presence of an observer during stage two of calving can disturb cows. Video cameras or accelerometers recording the behaviour of cows can be integrated in systems using image analysis or locomotive activity to alert the farmer as to when calving is imminent. However, alerting systems require the input of benchmark information about behaviours and changes in behaviours that can be predictive of the time of calving. Eight cows in a calving barn were continuously video-monitored. The recordings of the 24 h before delivery were analysed by instantaneous time sampling to identify the behaviours associated with an imminent birth. The same were collected in an ethogram including lying, standing, walking, turning the head towards the abdomen, eating, ruminating, drinking, sniffing the ground, allogrooming, self-grooming, and posture-changing. In our conditions, the only behaviour that was significantly influenced by the distance to delivery was posture-changing (p &lt; 0.0001). Two h before the delivery, the proportion of posture changes was different from all of the hourly proportions measured from &#8722;24 to &#8722;3 h relative to delivery (p &lt; 0.005), resulting in 3.6 times the average of the previous 22 h relative to delivery. An increase of posture changes may be an indicator of calving approaching, but further studies are needed to input benchmark values in alerting systems

Automation in dairy cattle milking: experimental results and considerations

The results of two experimental programs financed to the Istituto Sperimentale per la Zootecnia are presented. The objective of the two Italian programs was the verify if automatic milking is a suitable practice for Italian dairy system. Results are summarised and compared to those obtained in other international projects. Results refer to animal behaviour, milk yield, milk quality an animal welfare. In a trial comparing cows milked with an automatic milking system and cows milked in a milking parlour, we observed that when the temperature and humidity are very high cows reduce their activity, have lower milking frequency and milk yield than in cold seasons. In comparison to milking parlour, automatic milking system did not increase milk yield which was affected significantly by season, stage of lactation, parity, season per treatment and parity per treatment. The causes of the negative results obtained by this group and by other international groups are discussed. We also presented the results obtained in four trials thereby four appetizers or flavourings were tested to improve efficiency of automatic milking system. Comparing the two milking systems, automatic milking determined a worsening of milk quality, but from these data is not possible to exclude the possibility to use automatic milking for Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano-type cheeses. Animal welfare is not negatively influenced by automatic milking system, which has the potentiality to improve the control and care of cows

Robotic milking and milk quality: effects on the cheese-making properties of milk

Robotic milking systems (RMS) modify dairy herd management and therefore some aspects of production. The mainresults from scientific literature on RMS and cheese-making properties have been reported. The decrease in fat content,as a consequence of the increased milking frequency, is generally confirmed. The lack of specific studies on creamingproperties of milk from robotic milking experiences and with different milking frequencies has been highlighted.Indications on clotting features were obtained with a different milking frequency in a traditional milking parlour; theseresults showed an improvement in the casein index of milk from three daily milkings. A reduction of casein exposure tothe plasminogen-plasmin complex activity in the mammary gland between two consecutive milkings seems to explainthis result. The effect of RMS on milk quality for cheese-making purposes was first evaluated in a two-year monitoringstudy in a herd representative of Po Valley dairy farms. Preliminary results from laboratory tests on bulk milk samplesindicate that milk from RMS seems suitable for cheese-making processes

Relazione tra efficienza biologica e composizione acidica del grasso del latte in frisone italiane

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Nitrate framework directive and cross compliance: two case studies from the MO.NA.CO. monitoring network

The Act A4 refers to Articles 4 and 5 of Directive 91/676 / EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources. The A4 Act applies to farms that have land within a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ); it also applies to farms, with or without herds, that participate in measure 214 of the Rural Development Plans. The monitoring was performed in two experimental farms belonging to CREA-FLC. Both monitoring sites are located in  vulnerable areas designated by the Lombardy Region. In the monitoring period MO.NA.CO., the regional standard of reference were the Decrees of the Regional Government DGR5868 / 2007 and DGR2208 / 2011. The average cost attributable to administrative requirements was about € 600 / year / company and was mainly due to a professional agronomist who prepared the Agronomic Utilization Plan (PUA), assisted the farm in preparing its communication, provided advice and informed farm managers on regulatory updates. An informal, not systematic survey made possible to detect that the cost to fulfil the obligations of communication can be very variable depending on the farm’s characteristics (size, production, size of the herd) and the type of consultant assisting the breeder (freelancer, association, cooperative). For example, in some cases the cost is based on the area of the farm, in others on the number of animals in the herd; and in other situations, the associations and freelance agronomist apply a flat rate for the compilation of the PUAs which is unaffected by farm characteristics and ranging from a minimum of € 100 / year / company practiced by some farmers’ association to a maximum of € 800 / year / company required by some freelance agronomist. At Baroncina farm the storage capacity of the slurry, during the monitoring period, was not compliant with the law because the volumes produced could not be stocked for 120 days as required by the standard. New storage facilities have been designed and built; the overall cost of implementation of new tanks was about € 50 / m3

Adempimento agli impegni del “Pacchetto igiene” in quattro allevamenti italiani

Il DM 22/12/2009 che disciplina il regime di condizionalità ai sensi del regolamento (CE) n. 73/2009 e delle riduzioni ed esclusioni per inadempienze dei beneficiari dei pagamenti diretti e dei programmi di sviluppo rurale, fa riferimento, nel campo di condizionalità ”Sanità pubblica, salute degli animali e delle piante”, ai seguenti atti: Atto B9 -Direttiva 91/414/CEE concernente l’immissione in commercio dei prodotti fitosanitari; Atto B10 - Direttiva 96/22/CE concernente il divieto d'utilizzazione di talune sostanze ad azione ormonica, tireostatica e delle sostanze Beta-agoniste nelle produzioni animali e abrogazione delle direttive 81/602/ CEE, 88/146/CEE e 88/299/CEE; Atto B11 -Regolamento (CE) 178/2002 del Parlamento europeo e del consiglio che stabilisce i principi e i requisiti generali della legislazione alimentare, istituisce l’autorità europea per la sicurezza alimentare e fissa le procedure nel campo della sicurezza alimentare. Articoli 14, 15, 17 (paragrafo 1)*, 18, 19 e 20.

Environmental effectiveness of GAEC cross-compliance standard 1.1c ‘Maintenance of farm channel networks and field convexity’ and economic evaluation of the competitiveness gap for farmers

This paper shows the results of the monitoring carried out in three farms of the project MO.NA.CO. in order to verify the effectiveness of the cross-compliance standard 1.1c which obliges the farmer to the ‘Maintenance of farm channel networks and field convexity’ in order to ensure its efficiency and functionality in draining water. It was also examined the competitiveness gap induced to the agricultural enterprise by the application of the standard, that is to say the additional costs borne by the beneficiary of the single payment determined by cleaning farm collector channels. Effectiveness was determined by evaluating the degradation of soil structure at the end of winter, on flat fields  sown in autumn with winter wheat, in the two cases: a) Factual (channels along the field edges not clogged and no waterlogging present on the cultivated soil) b) Counterfactual (channels clogged and waterlogging present on the cultivated soil). The monitoring confirmed a positive effect of the adoption of this standard on predisposing soil to the ideal conditions for the maintenance of the structure. Despite the statistical evidence found, it must be said that the change in the surface roughness factor was so small as not to take any practical significance in order to affirm that the functional maintenance of collectors channels have been effective in reducing erosion. Overall, the soils were unstructured and crusted at the end of the observation period. Indexes Icli, NTU, and DS show a structural fragility from medium to high for soils of the three monitoring farms. This explains the lack of appreciable differences in the soil roughness parameter, especially in relation to   heavy rains and long waterlogging periods in the cropping years of monitoring. The competitiveness gap induced by the application of this standard, amounted to 19.89±€ 6.35 ha-1 year-1. Atmospheric emission of CO2, was equal to 14.53±6.62 kg ha-1 year-1. It is considered important to point out that at the present Annex II: ‘Rules of cross-compliance’ of Regulation (EU) No. 1306/2013 includes a BCAA not taking into account the environmental threats determined by waterlogging in cultivated land to soil, crops and to atmosphere, due to the possible production of greenhouse gases. As regards the infringement criteria to the standard it is suggested the introduction of the verification of the presence of convexity on cultivated fields in the plain